The Perspective of Detachment; the Detachment of Perspective

Abstract

I recommend the condition of detachment, yes detachment even to the point of alienation, as a perspective to see clearly the world around one. And possibly, I might add, to see the formative aspects of one’s own life. I write this narrative largely from Guatemala, where I have been an expatriate for the past 18 years. It is a given that I travel a great deal; theories on the origins of this Wanderlust are discussed later on. Suffice it to say that I remember clearly my first realization of the value of detachment in seeing things clearly; it came in the spring of 1970. I was then in my final year of Harvard Medical School and had opted to take a research elective at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia.